Commissioned to Serve: Love (Lesson 3)

Commissioned to Serve: Love

Intro Text

1 Cor 7:21-22 “Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.”

NRSV - Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ.

2 Cor 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Last Wednesday we came to the conclusion that true freedom is found following the will of God for one’s life through servanthood.

Servanthood isn’t exactly easy because it requires something from us, and that is that we die out to our flesh. Gal 2:20 states,

Gal 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

In essence, when we die out to Christ, we allow for him to live through us!

Becoming Great in the Kingdom of God

Humility

Lk 22:24-30 “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Jesus taught that leadership requires a servants heart, not a dictator/ruler/or slave drivers heart, but a servant’s heart. However, lets stop and think about that for a second. He was not telling the apostles to turn back time and become young again or was He? The answer is no. He wasn’t even saying for them to avoid the art of leadership. What he was saying is that leadership takes on a different role for Christians than what it does for the world.

Worldly Leadership =

More power

More money

More authority

More responsibility

Christian Leadership =

More power through the Spirit - which comes by holiness

A requirement to biblical principles, which often leads to sacrificial giving (discuss how this can be scary)

Often less authority with man, but more authority with God - these two are not mutually exclusive though (one can gain more authority with man over time) (discuss how this should be used though)

More responsibility

It comes back down to whether or not you want to be found as a faithful servant or not

Jam 4:6 “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

Here we should note that God gives more grace to those who are humble.

Those who aren’t to prideful to clean the church

Those who put their pastor’s needs before their own

Talk to Tuesday night…sometimes all we have is what we have. Where is your heart?

There were a lot of folks that showed up and made quick work of the sod, it was completed within an hr, this shows a servant’s mindset and heart.

If you’ll remain humble, God will not hold back His grace from your life.

It is by grace that any of us can operate in the divine gifts defined in 1 Cor 12. If a word of prophesy is given, it is because Christ first showed grace to the one giving the prophesy.

An individual cannot prophesy on their own accord, but must have 1. God working through them and 2. The grace to do so

Rom 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

It was by grace Paul could speak to the Romans; however, we know that various saints/ministers were equipped with different measures of faith.

Rom 12:6 “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;”

In essence, we are given grace to operate in God’s anointing for our lives. Grace is the key aspect within Apostolic Ministry. With it, you have the potential to move mountains, without it you have nothing. Grace is obtained through the death of a perfect lamb, which was Jesus Christ. In order to receive God’s grace, we must be baptized into His name through the water and the spirit according to Jn 3:5.

However, you may ask, “How do you obtain more faith?” How can I operate in the gifts? The answer is it takes faith, but faith has a starting point and a maturing point. The first is children’s bread that many fail to eat and die, while the latter is meat that many fail to consume wholly because maturity is a tough process.

Rom 10:17-21 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”

Faith begins by hearing the Word of God…show up to church!

Let’s take it one step deeper, what does Paul mean by hearing? Hearing God’s voice within your life.

You need to be filled with the Holy Ghost in order for this happen. This does not mean, however, that God never goes quite. - The teacher, Rabbi, teaches.

Hearing comes through maturity, which requires God’s Word in one’s life…preaching has a purpose in your walk with God. It builds up faith.

Maturity, however, comes from application. The problem is you cannot apply what you don’t know. You can’t know what you haven’t heard.

Further, while the Holy Ghost is our helper, we can honor God through study. If you never take one note to call back information during services, you’re treating God’s Word like a conversation.

I don’t care what you said 10 days ago, but I might care what God said 10 years ago!

Let us draw this back to humility. Humility is what holds our faith all together. With humility, we are able to hold onto the grace that God has given us. Seeing as pride is sin, humility is a necessity to keep our access to grace. Light does not fellowship with dark, nor will the Spirit fellowship with darkness within our hearts.

Love drives us to realize that we are not our own. Love tells us this isn’t all about me, it is about Jesus and His mission to save the world. While I’m playing the role of a hero through my obedience, it is really Jesus that gets all the glory. When he gives me a crown or a blessing it is because He is good and I am His servant. Not because I am the master and know better than everyone else.

Service

John 13:4–8 KJV 1900

He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

Jn 13:4-8

Service has a two part lesson here in the Gospel of John - 1. We must serve others just as Jesus did for His Disciples and 2. We must allow others to serve us.

Scientists have discovered that the deoxyribonucleic acids that make up our genes come together in such a way that a bridge forms after a certain amount of acids making up a row. These bridges are called base pairs. It is this process that allows the DNA chains to be linked together, thus creating that particular twisted ladder-like element that is part of the larger chromosome. This type of sequencing determines the information set of our genetics, which we pass on to our offspring.

The rate of connection of deoxyribonucleic acids is as follows: 10-5-6-5

What is interesting is that Hebrew letters have very important links to numbers, where the number associated to this rate of connection spells out Yod Hay Vav Hay or Yahweh.

God’s blueprint is within every person. It was there from the beginning and will be there till the ending. Some people, however, are awaiting their spiritual DNA to be turned back on through the rebirth. Regardless, I believe when we serve others, we partake in the act of serving Jesus.

Matt 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

In essence, God has called us to serve one another. Service is a method in which we take God’s love to people. However, we cannot get so hung up on the service brought about by Agape love that we fail to tell people how to receive God’s love through salvation.

Most churches have a charity program. Most churches give to the poor, but what must make us different is that we’re giving the poor water that won’t run dry and food that never stops nourishing.

This city needs grace and not a watered down message of what it takes to receive said grace!

Now comes the other side of service and that is allowing one’s self to be served.

Some of us have no problem being served! However, if you’ve been in ministry for any length of time it is uncomfortable. Unfortunately, often times it’s uncomfortable because of habit.

Often ministry sacrificially puts others before themself.

This does not mean that they fail to set boundaries. Ministers and even saints have lives too.

If you choose to serve in the church, it is okay to let people know your human. However, understand that laziness doesn’t cut it with God. You may fool man, while you often do not, but you will not fool God.

Going back to the concept of serving, it become ingrained in the minister that I must serve others. Jesus said to Peter that he’d have no part in Him if he failed to allow God to serve Him.

This was a shadow to the ultimate service done for humanity through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“Hello, you need serviced and the question is whether or not you’ll go in for that service?” - You miss it it is on you.

On a more practical theme, however, God made it clear that we ought to allow others to serve us. In other words, we should not deny a blessing.

It is a blessing when someone decides to show up to church when help is needed and it doesn’t fall all on the ministry.

It is a blessing when someone pays for your meal or buys you Starbucks

It is a blessing when someone serves their pastor to the point of bearing his armor...

Armor bearing is an entire lesson on Apostolic Ministry in itself, however, I can tell you this:

Bearing the Man of God’s armor comes with accepting the servant’s towel, but it often leads to the Servant’s mantle.

It requires being early and often leaving late. It requires radical servanthood and often radical submission. It means making sure your pastor is taken care of and is able to minister the Word of God to Jesus’ flock!

Conclusion

Love requires both humility and service in order to be fully activated within the believer’s life. However, we should sum love up to this - “love is God”. When we allow God to manifest through service and be maintained within our lives through humility, we enable Gateway to fulfill the Matt 28:19 Great Commission!

Next week, we will be continuing our series on servanthood. We will be talking about Integrity.

We look forward to seeing all of you next week and have a blessed remainder of the week! Remember, Family Fun night will be 4-6 pm. If you can, please try and be here by 1430 to volunteer.

If not, as a good friend used to say, anything beats a zero! Try and help where you can even if that means being a little late due to work.

God bless you all, you are dismissed.